DATE: Wednesday, August 27, 1997            TAG: 9708270557

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LORRAINE EATON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: FORT EUSTIS                       LENGTH:  106 lines

JROTC HELPS CADETS LAND WITH BOTH FEET ON GROUND ONE-WEEK CAMP AT FORT EUSTIS HELPS THE YOUTHS BUILD SELF-CONFIDENCE.

``OK, this is where I get scared.''

Tiera Williams, 15, says this to no one in particular. She's gripping the rail of a wooden platform halfway up and behind a 35-foot rappelling wall. Her breaths come short and fast. Tears pool in her eyes. There's a scream as another cadet who has just stepped off the wall swings back into it with a thud.

Tiera stares at the toes of her combat boots. ``I know I've got to do this,'' she whispers, then resumes her upward climb.

Tiera is one of 342 U.S. Army JROTC cadets from 26 Virginia high schools who are spending the last week of summer vacation billeted in barracks and wearing BDU's (that's battle dress uniforms).

Before it's all over, they'll learn how to find water in the woods by watching the birds and how to build a signal fire that will billow great white clouds of smoke. They'll learn that birds' nests make the best fire-starting materials, and that the pants of their BDU's make fine life preservers. In science class, they'll learn how to build a flashlight, and in land navigation exercises, they'll learn their way around a compass.

And when they parade across the Fort Eustis grounds during closing ceremonies Friday, they'll be all the better for it.

``These cadets who come here are going to be the leaders when they get back to school,'' said Senior Army Instructor Col. Steven P. Mifflin. ``Camp gives them an edge.''

Besides probably rising in rank when they get back into the classroom next week, it is likely that these students will also find success elsewhere. On average, JROTC cadets have higher high school graduation rates, lower absentee rates and fewer incidents of drug abuse than their non-JROTC peers, said Col. John W. Corbett, U.S. Army JROTC national director, based at Fort Monroe in Hampton.

Smithfield High School rising junior Corey Brown wasn't thinking about any of that when he joined JROTC as a freshman. ``I was looking for a way to be independent,'' the 17-year-old said, ``and I was thinking about a military career.''

Corey - make that Cpl. Brown - had just finished the land navigation course, where cadets disappear into the nearby woods with a compass and directions to locate markers. They'd already tackled the dreaded rappelling wall.

Smithfield High rising junior Jameka Brown, no relation to Corey, figured that after rappelling, camp would be a breeze. Earlier, she had stood atop the rappelling platform crying. Finally, on her third try, she whizzed down the ropes to the sand pit at the bottom. Her form wasn't great, but she did it.

Sgt. Maj. Jameka Brown really has no interest in the military; she wants to be a cosmetologist. Jameka likes JROTC because her friends are in it, but she says it's taught her self-confidence.

That's the thing about JROTC. Despite the heavy military flavor, it's designed to teach life skills.

JROTC was created by the National Defense Act of 1916. Its original mission was to familiarize the country's largely agrarian and rural population with the role of the military in society, and the role that the military would likely play in World War I, which the United States entered in 1917. It also prepared people to accept their role as soldiers, Corbett said.

Originally, JROTC welcomed only healthy males, but in the 1950s females were admitted. About 43 percent of the cadets at Fort Eustis this week are female, a number that is close to the national average for JROTC programs.

Although short or neatly pinned hair is still a requirement, the emphasis has also shifted. Some people ``think we're making soldiers in high school,'' Corbett said. ``The mission of JROTC is to motivate young people to be better citizens. We do not teach tactics, we do not teach combat skills, nor do we handle or use weapons.''

JROTC cadets march with guns with plugged barrels. Cadets have no obligation to join the military. And although they may compete for ROTC college scholarships, JROTC is not a recruiting tool, Corbett said. About 39 percent of JROTC cadets eventually join the military, he added.

But what does marching in a straight line teach about life?

``Well, it teaches them to follow instructions, eye-hand and body movement control and teamwork,'' Mifflin said. ``It also teaches them that who's in charge is who's in charge, that not everyone can be a leader, that they are in training to be leaders.''

For Tiera, the Petersburg High School sophomore making her way up the rappelling tower, camp is a way to prove to herself that she can do what she sets out to do. It just takes determination.

As she reaches the top platform, Tiera tells the instructor, Marine Sgt. Nick Taxiarchis of the Amphibious Reconnaissance School from the Expeditionary Warfare Training Group at Little Creek, that she needs help.

``Put your hands on my shoulders,'' Taxiarchis says as he clips a rappelling rope to Tiera's gear and looks directly into her eyes. ``There's no one who's been up here who's not been scared.''

``Yes, sir,'' she says. ``I'm just scared to death.''

She backs to the edge of the wall, tentatively.

``Look at me, now lean back.''

``Oh, I can't do this, I can't grip the rope hard enough.''

Then Tiera takes a breath, leans back, makes one long, near vertical drop, hits the wall with her feet and then lands on planet Earth.

``She did it,'' Taxiarchis says looking down at Tiera. ``She broke the fear.

``This whole thing is about being able to attack a fear, and finding out what you are made of. What these kids do today will help them two, five years from now. Are you going to challenge yourself, or are you not? Some people go through their entire lives without ever challenging themselves. It's a shame.'' ILLUSTRATION: MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Sharrod Bennett, above, listens to some last-minute advice from Sgt.

Chris Taylor before stepping off the rappelling tower. Bennett, 15,

of Newport News is one of 342 Army JROTC cadets training at Fort

Eustis. Rappelling seems to be one of the biggest challenges; one

cadet, below, had some trouble starting the descent.

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